The Ruby Suns | Sea Lion

I’ve been spinning Monitor’s LP The Voices And Drums Of Africa a lot recently. It’s a record I picked up at Philly’s Beautiful World Syndicate and features 18-tracks that focus on various African artists like Mouangue and his African Ensemble doing music of Cameroon; Kante Facelli and his African Ensemble doing music of Dahomey, Niger and Guinea; and Keita Fodeba and his African Ensemble doing music of Guinea and Casamance.

I mention the record because it served as a nice transition into The Ruby Suns Sea Lion. Don’t get me wrong, The Ruby Suns do incorporate African elements into their music, but their sound is far from “world music.” Surprisingly enough, I read that initially Sea Lion was intended to be a world music album, but elements of floating 60s pop psychedelia, orchestral compositions, noise, and reverb made their way in, resulting in an epic and exotic album. As originally planned, the album does encompass sounds focused in on all the world’s continents. Main “Ruby Sun” Ryan McPhun traveled the world with his Dictaphone, recording sounds and rhythms from the wilderness of Africa, the monasteries of Thailand, and the landscapes that surrounded him each day.

The inspiration behind the concept album is heard on tracks like “Tane Mahuta,” which is sung completely in New Zealand’s indigenous Māori – an ode to the ancient trees of a forest near the band’s town of Auckland, New Zealand. “Kenya Dig It?” was inspired by traditional Kenyan music, while “Ole Rinka” was written about a man McPhun met in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. A track on the band’s eponymous debut full-length (Lil Chief/Memphis Industries; 2005) also pays homage to Maasai Mara. The echoey, upbeat Panda Bear-esque “Adventure Tour” revisits a drive through New Zealand’s South Island.

The depth and sheer latitude of the The Ruby Suns songs is striking – cheery vocals over layers of complex instrumentation that consists of djembe drums, ukuleles, pots and pans, horns, and hazy distortion. The album is highly recommended.

Sea Lion (buy) is out now on Lil Chief and sees its U.S. release on March 4th via Sub Pop. The Ruby Suns play Philadelphia on 3/20 at The Barbary and The Mercury Lounge in New York on 3/23 after a stop at the Black Cat in DC on 3/21. All dates supporting Le Loup. The New Zealand trio will also be making a stop at SXSW.

[MP3]: The Ruby Suns  ”Tane Mahuta”
Sea Lion, Lil Chief/Sub Pop; 2008